Tim Holtz Summer of Creative Chemistry 2016 Weeks 1 -3

Hello my creative friends!  I took Creative Chemistry 101 with Tim Holtz about four years ago and I’m getting a refresher this summer.  Here are the tags I created for the challenges.

Week One

Friends, you just have to take this class.  It covered so many things you need to know about Tim Holtz products – it was amazing!

  Day 1 –  Tim is a wonderful teacher; he discussed the characteristics and properties of the products; dye vs. pigment inks, translucent vs. opaque, solvent, oil, or water based vehicles and porous vs non-porous materials.

Day 2 – This day we learned techniques for blending, stamping, and layering with Distress Ink.  Also, the wonderful way they react to water.  It was fun going back and create these tags, but with some of the colors from the 2015 releases.

Challenge #1

Blended Spritz & Flick

Brushless Watercolor

Wrinkle-free Distress

I think I went a little crazy applying all the different colors and got the tag too wet; but it is wrinkle free!!

 Week Two

Day 4 – We learned techniques for coloring backgrounds using re-inkers and how to store our ink creations.

Day 5 – Tim showed us some wonderful techniques for creating background, stamping, and using stains for marbling effects.

Day 6 –  The techniques Tim shared with us for coloring and stamping with distress markers were awesome!!  He also discussed the features of the markers and why they are different to other markers, but I didn’t have time to make the tags.

Challenge #2

After going over days 4, 5 & 6, our challenge was to make tags using the techniques we learned.

Day 4

 Watercoloring with Reinkers

Layered Misting

Creating a Custom Pad

Day 5

Stained Kraft Resist

Stamping With Stains

Marbled Stains

We skipped a few days and went on to

Challenge #3

  This week’s challenge was to make tags using Perfect Pearls and Distress Inks or Stains.

Day 8 – We made some awesome distress crackle objects and paints and learned how they react.

Day 9 – All about Perfect pearls and Pearl mists we made ourselves.

Day 8

Paint Dabber Resist

 

Crackle Paint Resist

Shattered Stains Technique

 I also made a card for the Unity Stamps Masculine Challenge

Day 9

Perfect Distress Mist

 

Perfect Distress Technique

Perfect Splatter Distress

That is it for now, my friends, Thanks for sticking with me until now.

Have a wonderful week and don’t forget to make something awesome!!

Happy crafting,

Carmen

 

Life Book 2016 – Your Story, Your Altar

Welcome back my crafty friends!  I’m posting a little late because I was focused on something else last week and didn’t have time to finish my lesson, but here it is!

Your Story, Your Altar with Roxanne Cobble

Roxanne’s specialty is journaling, but I did her lesson on a regular 11 x 14 watercolor page to include in my Life book folder.

I started out by collaging different ephemera (magazine cut-outs) one with a focal point that I could paint over with acrylic colors to match, then added other complimentary colors.  After that was done, I jotted down events that made a big impact in my life and I illustrated them on the focal point ephemera.

The biggest impact in my life was when my dad, my husband, and I went through Cancer, one right after the other.  It all started with my dad.  At this time he was getting incontinent and I would always ask someone to please go with him to the bathroom.  One day, I asked a friend to go with him and after he met me at the table, he said my dad was bleeding.  My dad didn’t want to bother me so he hadn’t told me he was having problems.  I took him to see his regular doctor who then sent him to a urologist.  After examining him, he said he had a Cancerous tumor in his bladder.  He was 97 years old at the time and the urologist said that if he was his father, he wouldn’t do anything about it and just let him run the course. I thought o myself, “Well, he is not your father, so let’s do something about it!”

He had the tumor removed and underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment – and yes, he survived.  The funny thing about all this is that my dad had a great attitude, or maybe memory lapses, through the whole process and would ask  what were the treatments for every single time.  I would remind him that he had Cancer, and he would say, “No, I don’t have Cancer!”  Perhaps that’s what helped him get through it.  And I’m thankful for that!  He lived two more years after this, but died of pneumonia, not Cancer five months short of his 100th birthday.

Then my husband’s PSA was checked on one of his routine appointments and the numbers were higher than normal.  He had another one done a month afterward and that’s when he was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer.  The Urologist gave him a choice to just wait and see or have treatments.

After many weeks of research, he decided that the best thing for him would be to have a prostatectomy.  “Get it out!” He said.

He had a wonderful young surgeon who believed in saving as much as he could of the nerves in the area, and left markers where the prostate was so the affected area could be found by an X-ray in case his counts went up again.  A year later, his numbers did go up again, but thanks to the markers the surgeon left in his body, he went through radiation treatments and killed what cells were left!

While my husband was going through his surgery, I started  having some unusual pain in my right breast.  I didn’t pay much attention to it because I was taking care of both my dad and my husband and I didn’t have time for me, until the pain got so sever I couldn’t touch my breast.  A few weeks later, my breast developed an “orange peel” skin.  That’s when I decided I better go see my doctor.

I explained what was going on but he refused to look at my breast because I had just had my yearly mammogram and it came back normal.  Instead, he sent me to get an ultrasound.  As I lay on the examining table, I could hear the tech say every once in a while, “Mmh” and she kept going back and forth to the same place.  I asked her, “Is something wrong?”  She replied, “Oh, no, nothing.  Your breast is very dense and I can’t see anything on the screen.”

The next week, I went back to the doctor and he said the ultrasound was normal, but I was adamant that something was wrong.  He insisted that everything was OK, but I was convinced otherwise.  So, he sent me to a surgeon who took one look at my breast and set me up for a biopsy.

 My mother had Breast Cancer and I felt the tumor before she went in for surgery, so I though I knew what to look for, but this was different.  Hers was a solid hard mass.  What I felt was pain around the areola and the breast was very tender.  Sadly, my mother succumbed to the disease after fighting it for eight years.  I didn’t want the same thing to happen to me.

So a word of advice to you, my friends; if something does not feel normal, please check it out and insist on getting a second opinion.  It could save your life.

To make a long story short, I was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma.  Left untreated it could lead to the Cancer breaking through the wall of the duct to other parts of the body.  The Oncologist said the tumor was 8 cm. and gave me a rating of Stage IIIA.  I had a good chance of survival because it was confined to the breast area and a few lymph nodes.

After undergoing chemotherapy, a mastectomy, and radiation.  I am still here and in remission now for nine years this coming May.

See, I told you Cancer has made a big impact in, not only my life, but the life of my loved ones as well.

Thanks for sticking with me this far!  So now on to my project.

In this picture you can see the important events in my life in addition to the Cancer story.  I married my husband in 1972, I had my daughter in 1975; the moving van indicates the 13 moves we’ve made, and the best vacation ever – Cancún, Mexico, and of course, my art is in the middle of everything!

I did add other events that had a big impact in my life, but the focal point is Cancer and Hope!

I added “this is where God lives.”

Another sad event in my life, was the divorce from my first husband.  It wasn’t all sad, because I had my first child, a son,  in 1970.

I added the feathers as a symbol of “finding my wings”

You will notice that in addition to the doodling, I also added stamping.

I stamped, “The best things aren’t things” in this section.

I also added  metallic molding paste in two different colors through one of Heidi Swapp’s new art screen, Dream.

Our favorite vacation destination, Lake Tahoe.

I spent a lot of time adding doodles which help me relax while sitting with my dear hubby watching TV.

I added this last image of a girl in a canoe, because I’m afraid of water and I’m hoping one day to get in the water and swim – that’s a Big Dream for me!

Thanks for coming by, and hope you return to visit again!!

Hugs, and well wishes!

Carmen

Life Book 2016 – Week 16 and Club Scrap Technique Challenge

Artist Interview With Roben-Marie Smith!

This week we didn’t have an artsy lesson, instead Tamara interviewed Roben-Marie Smith who is an awesome teacher and artist.  Tam does this once in a while so we can catch up on some lessons we’ve missed or try and redo some lessons we are not happy about.  It is also a good time to go back and revisit the lessons we’ve enjoyed and make a new project. 

I thought about redoing Roben’s lesson from last year because I wasn’t very happy with it.  I’ll be doing that this week too.

Instead, I made some cards for a couple of challenges.

Technique Challenge at Club Scrap

I subscribe to Club Scrap to get information on their new releases and to be inspired by their scrapbook pages and cards made by their Artists Team

The technique for this month was the Stained Glass look hosted by Lisa Dolezal.

I jumped right in because I found a stained glass die on clearance at Hobby Lobby!

Lisa used Color Burst Powder, but since I don’t have Color Burst powder, I used Colourcraft Brushos Crystals and Magical Micas from  Lindy’s Stamp Gang.

I started by spraying water on the watercolor paper, then using the shaker container, I applied only three colors that would not make mud – Color Brusho in Lime Green; Rose Red, and Yellow Ochre.  The results were stunning!  I got a clear vivid image I was thrilled with.

After the Brusho powders  dried, I cut out the background and the “stained glass” out of shiny silver cardstock.  I did notice that the cardstock came out with a strange texture because it picked up the scratches from the plate when I ran it through the cutter; but I took advantage of that since it made it more realistic.

I cut a piece of acetate and glued it between the watercolor paper and the die cut and added pink floss and tied it in a bow.  Then I glued this piece to two other pieces of cardstock.  Then stamped the sentiment, cut it apart and adhered it to the stained glass.

This is a closeup of the background and the sentiment.

Second Project

 

This is the technique that Lisa demonstrated using the Stamper Star

In my haste, instead of following the directions, to  stamp and emboss the image first, then add the Color Burst powder, I used the dried watercolor paper with the Brushos, then using my MISTI, I stamped the image a couple of times to get a good impression.

The results weren’t as stunning as Lisa’s project, but I managed to save the project by adding several different mediums to the paper like stencils, molding paste, other stamps, then I added black ink to the edges and adhered it to black cardstock so I can put it in a frame later.  I’ve had this stamp so long, I don’t remember the name of the kit, but I also used the alphas and the border that came with it.

A few close-ups

I’m going ahead and adding this to the challenge as well.

Thanks for visiting!

Carmen

 

 

 

Unity Stamps Anything Goes Challenge

This week’s challenge over at the Unity Show and Tell Facebook page is to use any Unity girl stamps to create a card, scrapbook page, mixed media project or anything else, using Unity Stamps only.

I love mixed media so I took the opportunity to play with Donna Downey’s stamp Kit, Calliope.  The girl’s image is 5×7.

This is an 8×11 canvas board that I primed with clear gesso so I could work on the face.  I first worked on the background and left a space for the image.  I used several Unity Stamps after laying down three different colors of Deco Art media fluid acrylics in Pthalo Blue, Hansa Yellow Light, and Liquitex heavy body acrylic in Payne’s Gray.

After the acrylic colors dried, I started stamping randomly using Unity Stamps Numbers, Etc.; the script from the Let it GO & Focus set; Donna Downey’s Peony and She; and Layers of Life kit Paper Hearts.

 I also added some doodles with my white Signo pen.

Then I went to work on the girl’s face and body.  I first stamped her on Rice paper so I could get a good impression then glued her with matt medium.  Some of the colors I used on the face were Americana acrylic in Fresh Tone, Golden Brown, Natural Buff, White and Liquitex Basics in Light Portrait Pink. For the lips, and cheeks, I used  the Tombow Art markers.

While that was drying, I used Donna’s stencil and applied gold and green Art (C) molding paste I found on clearance at Michael’s.  Great stuff, by the way!  It came in three small containers with three different colors – enough to try out!

I used one of Heidi Swapp’s stencils and her glittery silk screen molding paste here…

…and here.  It was the first time I used it and was very impressed with the creaminess and the shine – just like her glimmer mists!

after everything was dried, I stamped the She stamp on regular printing paper so it would have a good impression, cut it out, and glued it on the canvas with matt medium.

Then I worked on her hair, glasses, and dress. I used three different colors of Tombow pencils and ArtDeco Interference to make it shine.  I also added shading to her face and body using Pitt Markers.

I added glossy accents on the glasses and a few white lines to make it appear as the glare on the glass.

Thanks for stopping by to see my project and leave me some love in the comments.

Happy creating you all!

Carmen

Life Book Week 13 with Rae Missigman

This week’s lesson, given by Rae Missigman, was as usual challenging for me because it was about layers and intuitivity – if there is such a word.  (My spell checker didn’t recognize it, but I’ll add it anyway, ha!)

After I finished the project I had to leave it alone overnight to see it with new eyes.  So, it wasn’t that bad after all this morning!

She does lots of layers in her projects and I like layers, but the intuitive part just doesn’t resonate with me, so I thought about it and and made a plan.  I used a stencil without flowers!  I picked two by Claudine Helmuth with different shapes of bird cages and the Love Birds stencil.  The other one by Heidi Swapp that has the bird on a branch which includes the mask and another stencil.

So after layer and more layers, this is what I came up with.

I used watercolor paper, acrylic paints, a black pencil, splash colors, molding paste, and napkins for collaging.

I guess you can say I made it my own because instead of using flower stencils, I used the ones I mentioned above.

Here are some close-ups.  Since I also stamped different birds, cages, and bold stamps, I was surprised to see these birds come out after the layers.

I like the idea of circling the different parts you want to highlight.

I also added some doodling and more stamps to the empty spaces.  I also used modeling paste for the birds.

I stamped this sentiment on tissue paper I used with a gelli page.  I love how all the cages stand out with different objects inside of them.

The only flowers were these on a napkin I added just for fun.

This picture shows the bird on the right side and more bird cages hidden by the acrylic layers of paint.

Thanks for dropping by to see my project for this week and please leave me a comment and tell me what you think!!

Happy weekend everyone!!

Carmen

Unity Stamps Anything Goes Challenge

 Unity Stamps is having a challenge using any girl stamp and I jumped right in using one of Angie Blom’s girl stamps.

I was really limited on what surface to use because this stamp is only  2.5″ x 3.75″ so I cut a piece of watercolor paper just an 1/8″ smaller than my card.  I used an 8.5″ x 11″ piece of black cardstock folded in half.   I used acrylic paint, stencils, gesso, and my Tombow Dual Brush Pen Markers to color the image.  I popped up the wagtercolor paper with mounting tape.

Isn’t this tatoo girl amazing?  I added a sheet to cover up her bottom 🙂

I also used the script stamp from the “Let It Go And Focus” stamp set.  It is the perfect size for greeting cards.  This is a close up to show detail of the sentiment.

Sure had fun making this mixed media greeting card, now to find someone to give it to.

Hugs, and create something today!

Carmen

Life Book Week Six Your Quirky Amazing Life

Hello my artsy peeps!  Here I am again with another exciting post, LOL!

Week Six was taught by the amazing Tamara Laport

We were to think and write down about all the things we are grateful for and how we would depict our family.  Since this week was about quirky bird, I first thought about what the different personalities make up my amazing family, then I sketched them.

Here’s the sketch:

My daughter is a Yoga instructor and is always meditating, my son loves the drums and was in a rock band, now he works at a music store.  My husband  was hard to sketch, but I thought a toucan would be a good representation, and I’m the chick with the umbrella.

 

Here we are!  I also added my grandsons whom I adore!

I created this project on a 11×14 watercolor paper and used watercolor pencils, crayons, markers, acrylic paints, molding paste, stencils and love!

As I mentioned before, my daughter is a Yoga instructor.  I made her a Yoga outfit and the glitter all around her is her aura.  She’s such a loving, giving, and caring person!  She’s meditating and going “Ohmmmmmm” LOL

The Rock Star!

My son has been playing drums since he was grade school and later was part of a group.  Now he’s in his 40’s and he’s feeling the results of again!  His elbows hurt, he can’t hear very well, etc.

I tried to make him as flambouyant as possible, but not over the top.  I gave him a KISS face.  I added an ant so there would be five characters.  He’s holding a tiny heart and a leaf.

Next up is my husband.  Originally he was going to be a Toucan, but after adding his feathers, I don’t know what he is, ha ha.  He does have a heart of gold!  He is very giving, loving, and caring also!

My oldest grandson has been hiding behind people lately; I don’t know why, but he is the one in the family who also loves music and has the sweetest voice you’ve ever heard!

My youngest grandson is a jock!  He loves playing baseball and wants to be able to play professionally one day.  My husband has been encouraging him to do well in school and perhaps he can get a scholaship to go to College.  He’s already been admitted to Humboldt College in California.  We’re so proud!

Last, but not least, the chick representing me!

I put glasses on her because I like to read, and the umbrella is for when I go out in the ministry on a sunny day.   I’m one of Jehovah’s Witnesses and do volunteer work teaching the Bible and helping people get to know it better.  I added Zentangles to the umbrella, which I also draw to relax.  I also added doodles all over the pages and a few quirky stamps.

And that’s the project for this week, friends!

Thanks for coming by and I hope you leave me a comment.  I love comments!!

Carmen

Teaching My Friends To Make Cards

Good morning my friends!

I’ve been making cards for several years and I love to give them out to people.  Some have said they wish hey could make cards, but find it too difficult.  So I decided to give card classes for them using a variety of stamps.

I started in the summer and I find that not only are we making cards, but we’re also getting to know each other better and enjoying a creative form of entertainment.

 For this week’s lesson, I set up all the materials for them and will show them how to put them together.

I had so much fun making this one – lots of layers and dimension, but it will take some time to put it together.

I used the Now And Always stamp kit (an oldie) from Unity Stamps.  I love this kit because it has flowers that can be stamped on different colors of cardstock, and be cut apart to stack them and give them dimension.

I saw this type of card online and since I don’t have a beautiful butterly die like the one they used, I chose an older dragonfly from Spellbinders.

And, used this kit with that has many different sentiments and fonts!

Finally, this is my favorite.

I used Poppy Pattern Penny Black background stamp for this one, and the sentiment from this kit:

One of the friends that comes to take classes prefers 6×6 cards and I usually make 5 1/2 by 4 1/4,  and so I’ve been trying to accomodate her, but the background stamps are usually 5 1/2 by 4 1/4.  I guess I’ll have to use single stamps to make the background, but it will be more time consuming.

So, if you’re in the area and want to learn how to make stamps in two hours, leave me a message on my Facebook page.

Have a wonderful day!

Carmen

Life Book Week Four And Dina Wakley

Fearless Art With Annie Hamman

This lesson was a lot of fun since I allowed my inner child to come out and play and make a mess on my art.  It really took me out of my comfort zone, but I was able to let it go and I didn’t spend too much time trying to make it perfect.

Annie had the collaboration of her four year old daughter, Tallulah.  Actually, Tallulah has been collaborating in her mother’s work since she was a year old when she would go into Annie’s workshop and try to mess around.  After several attempts at getting her to stop “bothering” her, she decided to allow her daughter to play along with her and as a result there’s been sensational pieces of art created by both of them.

I first took a face from a fashion magazine and made my sketch.  I chose this one because the features were very detailed, although I left the glasses off.

Then I stared adding the acrylic paints and worked on it for a while.  This is the first few layers.  I used a few stencils and added lots of color to her hair.  This piece of art went through several changes as you will see because my “inner child” wanted to change things and I allowed her.

Then, the inner child came out to play.  She wanted feathers in her hair and apparently she didn’t like the hair so she put in different strokes even over my pretty flower stencil.

So I went back and added another big flower on her hair.  My inner child came back and used more stencils and more paint, and then I decided that was enough out of her.

I went back and just changed the stencils and hair and worked on her forehead a bit and gave her new eyebrows and eyes with eyelashes even!  I also used a stamp and a white jelly roll pen to give her a few gray hairs and added details to the flowers and leaves. I left the collaged butterflies on her neck and on the top. I’m really happy with her and I hope to play like this once more.

That is it for this lesson and I’m so looking forward to next week.  So many people have signed up for Life Book 2016 that it’s hard to keep up on our secret Facebook page.  I love all the different interpretations and the art work is amazing.  There have been some beautiful, beautiful, pieces shared that intimidate me, but I have to keep thinking about the word I chose for this year “Beautiful.”  Everything I create is beautiful!

Art Journal Color Courage with Dina Wakley and Amy Jones

I’ve been meaning to post some of the backgrounds I’ve been creating after watching Dina Wakley and Amy Jones in the Interweave Store through the Cloth, Paper, Scissors. Shop.

I bought her book,  Art Journal Courage, through Amazon and I was hooked!  There is nothing like seeing the artist at work that’s why I decided to buy the videos.

She is truly fearless when it comes to playing in her journal.  I bought her bird stamps while they were on sale at the JoAnn’s online store.  Now I can’t wait to use them on the backgrounds I created.

This background was mostly created with ink sprays and stencils.  She has a great line of stencils, but I made my own and used some I had on hand.

These were also created with spray inks, but she introduced acrylic paints too.  To me it looked very busy, but I have to go back and finish watching the video so I can see how she fixed it.

 These were created on deli paper.  It’s amazing to me that I didn’t have to use my Gelli Plate, but I’m sure in one of her classes she’ll take it out to use it!

 

And Finally, the piece de resistance (spoken  with a French accent).   These were my favorite pieces because the colors are just so vibrant!  I used the sprays on the bottom and the stencils on top.

 

Now, to watch the rest of the videos and see how I can use my new sketchy bird stamps.  Thank you all for stopping by today and I look forward to your comments.

 Until next time, play, play play!~

Carmen

Life Book 2015 Week 10

This has been one of my favorite projects yet!  Playing with ink sprays and getting messy is my kind of play time!

Layers of Your Heart With Tamara Laporte was this weeks lesson

This month’s theme is Celebration and gratitude

We created a concertina page with several hearts where we wrote what we are grateful for.  Here is mine:

I love how we created this background using different colors of spray inks on the pocket concertina as well as each heart.

This is the front heart.  I tried a little faux calligraphy for the title “Layers of My Heart”

The rest of the hearts are decorated in different techniques.  I wrote on each one what I am grateful for beginning with my Spirituality, Family, Nature, Technology and Friends.

I will be making more of these grateful hearts for sure!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Carmen